Chinese food in 1960s America was hardly what it is today: Think chop suey followed by canned vegetables and some egg drop soup at every single Chinatown establishment.
Luckily, that’s all changed, thanks to San Francisco chef Cecilia Chiang. The founder and chef of the legendary Mandarin Restaurant, which opened in 1961, is credited with introducing America to what we might consider standard menu items in modern times: xiao long bao (soup dumplings), mapo tofu, and whole steamed fish. She was the first chef who put Sichuan food on an American menu, the first chef to elevate Chinese cuisine to fine dining, and yes, the first chef to teach Alice Waters to make shark fin soup. (Her son, meanwhile, started P.F. Chang's, bringing Americanized Chinese food to malls across the country and dropping the "i" in his last name for good measure.)
Such accomplishments practically necessitate a documentary. Enter Soul of a Banquet, the latest from director Wayne Wang (The Joy Luck Club). “Alice Waters asked me to document a banquet Cecilia was throwing to honor Chez Panisse’s 40th anniversary,” Wang says. “Then I got to know Cecilia well, and I decided to document her life because she really represents the last 95 years of Chinese cuisine in America, as well as China’s history.”
The film, divided simply into food-themed sections, tells two stories. The first uncovers Chiang’s life in China, her escape during the civil war, and her return to find the remains of her family after the Cultural Revolution. The second showcases Chiang’s preservation of high-end Chinese cooking through her banquet for Chez Panisse. “I’m 95, but I still remember a lot about old China, a lot of the traditional foods, which have been forgotten,” Chiang says.
We sat down with Chiang and Wang to discuss the status of Chinese food in America, and what exactly we’ve been eating all this time. Scroll to the bottom to watch an exclusive clip from Soul of a Banquet, where Cecilia explains the legend behind Beggar's Chicken.
JESSICA CHOU: I think what was so surprising about the film was the inclusion of your family’s story during the communist revolution. Was that something you’ve always wanted to share?
CECILIA CHIANG: I have two cookbooks out and for the second one, I said I really want to tell the story about my family, but they said it might be too political, telling me to focus on the food. But people should know what happened in China at that time.
WAYNE WANG: It’s not a political statement; it’s a very personal thing.
It is very personal, but part of the film also focuses on how the revolution affected the food culture.
WW: Well, after the war, a lot of the old chefs fled, some to Hong Kong, mostly Cantonese chefs, and others to Taiwan. Some of them went to London. But those are where the traditions immigrated to, and now a lot of the traditional cooking methods are gone, especially cooking the banquets.
CC: Now all the old chefs have died and they didn’t even have a chance to show the young generation how to give a banquet or how to make these classic Chinese dishes.
What did a banquet look like, exactly?
CC: There were at least four cold dishes, very light, and then another four main courses, usually a whole duck, whole chicken, pork, and a vegetable dish. Everything ha
Luckily, that’s all changed, thanks to San Francisco chef Cecilia Chiang. The founder and chef of the legendary Mandarin Restaurant, which opened in 1961, is credited with introducing America to what we might consider standard menu items in modern times: xiao long bao (soup dumplings), mapo tofu, and whole steamed fish. She was the first chef who put Sichuan food on an American menu, the first chef to elevate Chinese cuisine to fine dining, and yes, the first chef to teach Alice Waters to make shark fin soup. (Her son, meanwhile, started P.F. Chang's, bringing Americanized Chinese food to malls across the country and dropping the "i" in his last name for good measure.)
Such accomplishments practically necessitate a documentary. Enter Soul of a Banquet, the latest from director Wayne Wang (The Joy Luck Club). “Alice Waters asked me to document a banquet Cecilia was throwing to honor Chez Panisse’s 40th anniversary,” Wang says. “Then I got to know Cecilia well, and I decided to document her life because she really represents the last 95 years of Chinese cuisine in America, as well as China’s history.”
The film, divided simply into food-themed sections, tells two stories. The first uncovers Chiang’s life in China, her escape during the civil war, and her return to find the remains of her family after the Cultural Revolution. The second showcases Chiang’s preservation of high-end Chinese cooking through her banquet for Chez Panisse. “I’m 95, but I still remember a lot about old China, a lot of the traditional foods, which have been forgotten,” Chiang says.
We sat down with Chiang and Wang to discuss the status of Chinese food in America, and what exactly we’ve been eating all this time. Scroll to the bottom to watch an exclusive clip from Soul of a Banquet, where Cecilia explains the legend behind Beggar's Chicken.
JESSICA CHOU: I think what was so surprising about the film was the inclusion of your family’s story during the communist revolution. Was that something you’ve always wanted to share?
CECILIA CHIANG: I have two cookbooks out and for the second one, I said I really want to tell the story about my family, but they said it might be too political, telling me to focus on the food. But people should know what happened in China at that time.
WAYNE WANG: It’s not a political statement; it’s a very personal thing.
It is very personal, but part of the film also focuses on how the revolution affected the food culture.
WW: Well, after the war, a lot of the old chefs fled, some to Hong Kong, mostly Cantonese chefs, and others to Taiwan. Some of them went to London. But those are where the traditions immigrated to, and now a lot of the traditional cooking methods are gone, especially cooking the banquets.
CC: Now all the old chefs have died and they didn’t even have a chance to show the young generation how to give a banquet or how to make these classic Chinese dishes.
What did a banquet look like, exactly?
CC: There were at least four cold dishes, very light, and then another four main courses, usually a whole duck, whole chicken, pork, and a vegetable dish. Everything ha